The First Christmas at My House + Giveaway

Can you believe Christmas is in SIX days? I’m not ready at all. I literally just put my Christmas tree up last weekend and I’ve only bought one Christmas gift…On a positive note, I’m finally settled in my new home. It feels so great to be able to call this place my own 🙂 I have about a billion decor ideas planned so far and my Pinterest boards are overflowing with future DIY projects. I have to keep reminding myself to do one thing at a time.

I want to bring happiness to your Monday, so I’m teaming up with simplehumanto give away a foam cartridge sensor pump! It’s the coolest gadget EVER!
On Saturday morning, Kyle and I started with the bathroom. I volunteered him as tribute 🙂 The downstairs bathroom was green and I hated it. It’s the first room you see when you walk into my place and that green wasn’t very inviting. I went with a warm grey, took down the random floating cabinet (what the heck is that?), added floating shelves with cute little baskets, and replaced the mirror with a framed one. It was an easy $200 bathroom makeover!
I also added cute little hand towels, wall decor, and glamorous accents. It’s going to be a Breakfast at Tiffany’s themed bathroom. I’m using the famous photo of her holding the coffee and pastry as my inspiration. I will also be putting a chandelier in their soon 🙂 I cannot wait to share the final photos. My new simplehuman, a foam cartridge sensor pumpwill also look really good in there! I know Audrey Hepburn would have been very impressed with a no-touch soap dispenser. SO DIVA-SIH.After we finished the bathroom project, we (they) painted the accent wall in the living room. I love all the wall colors in the living room, but the brown/red accent wall had to go. I found color inspiration on Pinterest and decided to go with an “approaching storm” blue. My dad and Kyle painted all the walls while my mom and I baked Christmas goodies in the kitchen.
For the past twenty years, my mom and I have been baking Christmas goodies together. My mom used to set up a cookie frosting station for my brother and I when we were kids; it was our favorite part of Christmas. My mom let us decorate them anyway we wanted. I remember decorating my cookies with every type of sprinkle possible. My cookies were rainbow brown by the time I was done! Now, I’m a little bit more modest with my cookie decorations! I try to stick to the traditional Christmas colors.

While I bake the cookies, my mom makes peanut brittle. Have you ever seen someone make peanut brittle? It’s intense and kind of dangerous! Peanut brittle is my mom’s Christmas specialty and the best peanut brittle I’ve ever had! We make tons of it and put it in tins for friends and family. It was really fun making it at my house this year. It got a little messy, but I wouldn’t want it any other way! The foam cartridge sensor pumpcame in handy with my sticky baking fingers! I’m so excited for the giveaway because I know you all will be obsessssssssed with the pump!
This year is going to be the first time hosting Christmas at my house. I am so excited!!! Our family will go to mass on Christmas Eve and then my dad and I are going to cook the traditional crab legs with potatoes. We always wake up to my homemade cinnamon rolls and open stockings! You’re never too old for stockings 🙂 Hello, lottery tickets!

After baking for the holidays, my mom and I went shopping for Christmas gifts. Christmas shopping always puts me in the Christmas spirit!I’ve always thought of myself as a really good gift giver. It’s something I really enjoy doing. I wish I could do more gift guides on the blog, but my friends and family read my blog. I don’t want them knowing whats going under the tree this year. There is one gift that all of my family members know they’re getting because I can’t stop taking about it, the simplehuman, a foam cartridge sensor pump! It’s literally a gift for anyone. This is what I was raving about on Snapchat the other day! Seriously obsessed.

I couldn’t be more excited partner up with simplehuman on this post because I think you will LOVE it, and it’ll save you a lot of thinking when it comes to gift giving this year. simplehuman is also providing a giveaway 🙂 One of my readers will win a foam cartridge sensor pump with the accompanying soaps! YAY!
I love gifts that are easy to assemble, unique and useful. Don’t get me wrong, I love when I get Christmas candles and Christmas towels, but I can’t use them all year round. I like giving gifts that are for everyday use!

The foam cartridge sensor pump is just that. I love how fancy the sleek sensor pump is and the stainless steal matches most kitchens or bathrooms. Believe me, your guest will mention your soap dispenser as soon as they leave the bathroom. It’s a rich and luxurious piece that won’t go unnoticed 😉 I can’t wait for my family to use it while they’re over for Christmas (I know thats totally nerdy.)
The foam cartridge sensor pump took me less than a minute to put together for use after I took it out of the box. I love that it’s touch-free. That means no germs! no smudges! Why can’t all my other stainless steel appliances be like that?
Another great feature is that the pump is rechargeable. One charge lasts up to 3 months! You can save all the money you would spend on batteries and just buy new luxurious foam soaps for your pump. Charging is so simple, you just plug the USB cord into a port.

The refills are so easy to replace. You just eject the old cartridge and insert a new one. Literally takes seconds and it’s mess-free. When you buy the simplehumanfoam cartridge sensor pump, it already comes with a foam soap! 🙂

You can even turn it off if you plan on going out of town for a while and want to save the batteries.
I cannot wait to try all of the fragrances. My mom was asking what I’d like for Christmas this year and I told her just some refills for my foam cartridge sensor pump. These make the perfect little stocking stuffers! She already has her entire office hooked. Do you know how many people touch the soap dispenser after using the restroom? Gross! Touch-free is the way to be!

Here are some of the fragrances they offer: geranium, mandarin, cucumber, fragrance free, spring water, lavender, apple, mint lime, verbena and even more on their website. They have teamed up with awesome brands like EO and ARIA by Antica Farmacista to bring some more lovely fragrances. You can change up the fragrances for the seasons. My goal is to have all of the fragrances in my bathroom by spring!

Not only do they have hand soap, they also have dish soap! That’s just my excuse to by more foam cartridge sensor pumps. I have five sinks that need pumps!

I also think they should make pumps for my shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, perfumes…you get it 😉

So if it’s electric, then how do you clean it? (Karen from Mean Girls voice)……….

I am allergic to many scented products, but can usually handle fruity scents. I would have a hard time choosing between apple, mandarin and grapefruit, though, because I love all 3 scents! I guess I’d go with mandarin first…

I would love to try the orange or grapefruit one. I also really love the smell of cucumber. Too many choices! As for Christmas shopping, I’m all done. Just as well as its 8pm Christmas Eve in the UK right now.

Aww I have that Twisted Peppermint lotion too! I love it. I would use the soap pump in my kitchen. I always have dirty hands from cooking and I really don’t like getting raw meat fingers on my soap dispenser. I also look it would add some chicness to our kitchen. Merry Christmas Eve!

I would love to have this soap dispenser! If I am being totally honest, my husband is in charge of the kitchen, and this would be a nice gift for him. I am finally done with my shopping, but we do not exchange= hubby and I= so this would be a nice gift after Christmas for him. I would love the citrus flavors, so the grapefruit and mandarin orange, but since it is not for me, the bergamot would be perfect!

I would love to try the mandarin orange! After reading this I’m pretty sure I need one of these, my daughter is potty training and when she’s allowed to wash her hands by herself usually ends up with a sink full of soap. This would be perfect, I guess until she just kept putting her hand under it… either way, I need one! 🙂

1. Where would you put your foam cartridge sensor pump?
2. Have you finished holiday shopping?

I would put my foam cartridge sensor pump in my kitchen! I am always meal prepping or baking or cooking some type of something, especially this time of year. It would be so helpful when my hands are covered in cookie dough!
I was almost finished shopping. I did family presents this year because I have such a large family and themed them movie night with a movie hot chocolate candy canes to put in them and homemade cookies. My job just told me about our Chinese gift exchange. It’s so much fun 🙂 and that’s what I meant by almost finished haha

I would really love this dispenser for my kitchen. I’m constantly cooking and baking. I always hate when I cutting raw chicken, beef, or pork and need to wash my hands. I always hate touching the pump. After I wash my hands I feel the need to wash the hand soap dispenser too. This would totally eliminate that!
I’m all my finished my Christmas shopping which I’m thankful for because it just gets really crazy in the stores. Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

I need one of these dispensers. My son goes through a bottle of soap a week. He thinks he must have 4-5 pumps and most don’t land in his hands but on the counter! That would be more of a gift for me than him! Love your blog! I’m right up the road in Mooresville! Merry Christmas!

I would love an automatic soap dispenser… unfortunately the one type of person these may not work for is people with cats. We tried one previously and my cats like go on my counter tops when we’re gone and came home a few times with soap dried into their fur! Thought they would learn a lesson from needing to be rinsed off and not walk in front of the automatic soap dispenser haha but we decided to get rid of it unfortunately… didn’t want to risk the cats grooming themselves and licking up the soap. Dang furbabies sometimes

-My comment yesterday didn’t show up probably because I spelled her last name.

I would put the dispenser in my kitchen because my garage it attached to the kitchen and when I come in from shopping or whatnot I immediately wash my hands. I’m a germaphobe! The mint lime and lavender sounds like my kind of soap.

I’m done shopping, and wrapping. I started early in November and now I’ve spent waaaay too much money! ! It’s ok my two kids 10yrs old and 3 yrs old will have an awesome Christmas this year.

Congrats on your new home. I love the family traditions you mentioned too. Beautiful picture of your mom and you, I hope to always bake cookies with my daughter Gwen just like you two.

We live in central Iowa and it’s forecasted to be 50 degrees on Christmas day! The first thing I told my husband is we’re going on a family walk to burn off the sweets we will be eating for days lol. Gotta attempt to be healthy 😉

Hey there Taralynn!
I absolutely LOVE this gadget- it’s literally a gift you could give anyone. My mom, my fiances mom, myself… as you’d say, you get the idea 😉 Thank you so much for sharing! Also, I would love it if you would do a recap on the gifts you got everyone after Christmas. I don’t know why, but I just love reading about fun & uniques gift ideas.

Congrats on the new house girl, such an exciting chapter in your life. Happy Holidays!

Hey Taralynn,
I have read your bogs for years now and I really admire you. Can you talk more about you struggles with overcoming an eating disorder? I have struggled with some of overcoming my own struggles with body image and would love your advice.

“Oh my God Taralynn you can’t just ask how to clean it” (Gretchen Weiner’s voice)
LOL!!!
I would use this in my kitchen because I come in my house from the garage straight into my kitchen and ALWAYS wash my hands after I’ve been out shopping or running errands. I’m not too keen on germs either 😉 I want to try mint lime or lavender. Both sound amazing!

Congratulations on the new home! Christmas at your house sounds perfect. I love family traditions too! I have a 10 year old daughter, Gwendolyn, and I hope she and I continue our cookie baking together as she gets older like you and your mom do. You both are beautiful in that picture. Funny too that my daughter and I are both brunettes like you lovely ladies! We hear how we look alike all the time too which I’m sure your all to familiar with!
We have all the shopping done, I spent waaaaay to much but I just love giving presents! It’s only once a year, why not go big? I also have my 3 year old son, John. He’s finally old enough to really get into Santa this year. I’m excited!!
Just watched the news tonight and it’s going to be 50 degrees on Christmas day! I’m in central Iowa. The first thing I said to my husband is we’re taking a family walk to work off all the sweets!! Lol!!
Have a Merry Christmas!

I would love this in our master bathroom! We are new home owners and the only update we have made in that room is changing the wall color to grey. This would definitely help us update the look!
Happy Holidays!

Hello!
I would put it in my office. I am washing my hands over a hundred times a day so this would come in handy and keep things clean. I have finished the majority of my shopping. Need to stop by my parent’s favorite ice cream salon to get a certificate. They can’t stop talking about it!

That’s a great idea using a particular picture like Audrey Hepburn’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Moved into my own place about six months ago and I have been struggling with artwork in my living room. Love Paris and was there this past summer, so I will use my own pictures of the Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysees as my inspiration. Plus, I live in Michigan so I’ve got to have some classic Detroit artwork. Thanks!

Ooooh! So many to choose from! Probably orange blossom or verbena! I’m done shopping and wrapping but I will helping my mom and sister do their wrapping because I love wrapping too!
Merry Christmas!
PS my family recently moved to the Charlotte area and I’m visiting from Seattle for the holidays, any good restaurant suggestions?

Genius!! I would love any sents but lavender is a fav!! With two dogs, a 9 year old son, and the dogs I puppy sit??? Would leave in downstairs bathroom as always washing hands ❤! Congrats on house as looking awesome!! Ps I want your mom’s peanut brittle!! ?

A SimpleHuman Foam Cartridge Sensor Pump would go GREAT in our first home! We close on January 3rd and we are so, SO excited to make it our own with new paint, décor, appliances, and hopefully a SimpleHuman Foam Cartridge Sensor Pump! We are redecorating one of our bathrooms and this would be the perfect addition! Thank you and have a very Merry Christmas, Taralynn. 🙂

I would like to have the simplehuman foam cartridge sensor pump in my classroom! I teach technology in an elementary school and I am constantly talking to the kids about good hygiene and how it helps you stay healthy! This would be perfect because they don’t touch the unit at all and this neat system would be verrry motivating for them to clean their hands if you know what I mean 😉

As a tradition, we go shopping on Christmas Eve and spend the evening wrapping (secretly) our gifts to Christmas music and eating comfort food. When we’re finished we watch “A Christmas Story”!

HOW EXCITING! If I won the foam soap dispenser, I would put it in my guest bathroom with a lavender scent! Lavender is so calming and not a very strong scent, so everyone loves it!!!
I finished my Christmas shopping two weeks ago! Congratulations on your beautiful first home!!!!!!

Your house is looking so beautiful, Taralynn!!! I’m so excited to see more of it in future posts! I’m hoping to finish unpacking our house over the Christmas holidays — I have a break from all of the studies and kids’ things I’m involved in, so I’m hoping to really make some progress here. We’ll see….

Alexander and I are doing cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast, too!!! My family always did biscuits and gravy, but we wanted to start our own traditional breakfast and both of us like cinnamon rolls. Plus, I can make them vegan.:)

Honestly, if I received the simplehuman pump, I’d probably have to give it away to someone else. My hands are super sensitive and dry out easily, especially in the winter time, so the only soap that works well for me is my mom’s goat milk soap bars. I do really like the idea that the pump touch free…and lavendar is always one of my favorite scents.

I think I’m doing purchasing gifts…now I just need to finish making a few!!! I tend to be the last-minute or after-Christmas gift giver. Hopefully I’ll get better about that in the future!

Have a very merry Christmas in your new home, Taralynn! And enjoy your Christmas Eve mass–Christmas Eve services are always so special!

If I won a SimpleHuman Foam Cartridge Sensor Pump I would use it in either my bathroom or kitchen – I can’t decide which! The sweet water and cucumber fragrances sound like they’d be my favorites. 😉
YES I am done christmas shopping. All I have left is to finish wrapping, and get to baking! Can I get an extra day? EEEEK!

I would love to try the mint lime in my kitchen and the lavendar in the bathroom! I love the idea of this – I always hate pressing the soap dispenser when I’ve been handling raw meat/fish in the kitchen.

love the smell of lavender and love reading your blog. I’m a Southern transplant to Michigan (11 years already) and love reading your blog. Thanks for the running inspiration- some friends are signing up for a half marathon next year and I want to go for it too!

I would use it in my kitchen for sure! And no not done with holiday shopping. My husband and I go minimalist gift giving but useful items for our family. No reason to break the bank to enjoy fun w family and friends. Happy Holidays!

I would definitely use the sensor soap in my kitchen! I’m always cooking and baking. that would be so convenient and helpful! I have a tradition with my best friends usually the day before Christmas eve I have everyone over and we have a bake off with all sorts of Christmas treats that we will pass out to family. It’s something I look forward to every year! I actually finished all of my Christmas shopping last week and I even found time to wrap everything! I can’t believe I’m finally on time this year! Lol congratulations on your new home! I can’t wait to see your make over pics! Happy Holidays!

1. I would def put mine in the kitchen. I have a cockapoo — he looks just like leo except hes only 20ish pounds– everyone thinks he is a goldendoodle… anyways, I am able to bathe him in the sink and the hands free soap dispenser would be perfect after a nasty morning of the dog running around in the dog park! The lavender would be my go to scent.

2. I have been done for a while now! I started around Thanksgiving and I have Amazon prime to thank for getting everything to me so quickly!

This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen! I would love to try the geranium or lavender fragrances, but they all sound amazing! I would probably start with putting one of the foam dispensers on the kitchen sink and then the bathrooms! I also am a little behind with my Christmas shopping this year. These would make great gifts though! Congratulations on your new home and happy holidays to you and your family!

1.) I would put one in the kitchen first. I use the kitchen more than I do my bathroom it seems. LOL!

2.) And yes, I’m done with my Christmas shopping. We decided in our family last Christmas to no longer buy for each other. (Between my brothers, sister-in-laws and all the grand-kids – 6 of them!) So we just spend half the day together.. enjoying a meal. My boyfriend and I also decided not to buy gifts for each other. We only do stocking stuffers now. (Which is my fav!) So all the shopping I do is for my boyfriends teenage daughter, the angel I picked from our local angel tree and my Daddy & Mama. (They do so much for us. It’s a must) Oh and my 3 dogs & cat. But yes, I’m done! Lol.

I just got really excited! Just bought my first house in August and we are renovating the main bathroom in 2 weeks! Definitely going to have to convince the hubby to get me one! I wonder how the mint lime smells…

Love this! I would put it in my kitchen for sure. I would try the apple and geranium. Yes, I actually got my Christmas shopping done early this year which is a huge accomplishment for me. I’m usually one to wait till the very last minute. Can’t wait to see more pictures of the house!

We have several Simple Human products at home (large trash can which we use for recycling, + the dual pull-out recycler) – I love them! Would love to add this soap dispenser to the mix. I would use it in our only bathroom! 🙂

I am redoing one of my bathrooms, as well (I moved into my house about a year ago, and it was the best adult life decision I could have made!)! Now I just need a boyfriend to help me paint 😉 My Christmas shopping is done thanks to Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime!

I somehow finished most of my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, but I just can’t seem to stop! I love shopping for other people. I would use it in my kitchen! My hands always get so messy when I am cooking and I hate how gross my soap dispenser gets from toughing it. This would be the perfect fix! I love that the stainless steal would match the rest of my kitchen and I LOVE that they have different scents like lavender! This seems like the perfect gift for anyone.

1. I would put it in the kitchen because I love to cook and bake most nights and think it would probably be most useful there. I could see us buying more and putting one in the guest bathroom, too.

2. I have finished my holiday shopping, but I had an early Christmas with my family and am celebrating with husband’s family this upcoming weekend. Plus we both work a lot for long hours and need to get stuff done in advance. Amazon Prime and free shipping from Target w/ Target Card=lifesavers.

First, your mom looks amazing! Before I opened the post and read it I assumed that picture of you two was one of your friends!

I would definitely put this dispenser in my kitchen. I have all stainless appliances and this would look so sleek on the counter. I hate ruining the look of my kitchen with just a plain soap bottle sitting out. Geranium is my favorite scent! I was so excited when I read that as one of their scents!

1. I would put the pump in my kitchen! The worst is when I have dirty hands from touching meat or sticky dough and other messy things and I have to touch the soap dispenser. This would totally solve that problem!!

2. Yes! Mostly, I do have to pick up a giftcard for Mark’s mom.. but does that really count as shopping? If so then that’s it!

I would love to try cucumber. I would put one in my downstairs bathroom since that’s where I usually wash up the pup. I have all but one more family member to shop for so I’m bringing it I’m close to the wire. ?

Would love to try this! The Bergamot sounds like it would smell fantastic and I’d totally use it in one of my bathrooms. We have a trio of soap, antibacterial gel, and lotion, so this would be perfect without having to touch anything.

This dispenser sounds awesome! I am all about avoiding germs, especially in the winter with so many colds and bugs going around! I only have two sinks in my apartment, but I’d put one at each! Such a great idea for sticky baking fingers… I always have to clean my whole kitchen (soap dispenser included) after baking!

I am done holiday shopping! We traveled across the country this year so I had to be done early! Amazon prime = the BEST way to ship presents to my parents and in laws… and you can even get them wrapped before shipping… hello easy Christmas shopping!